Australia cancels $7 billion satellite contract with Lockheed Martin
The Australian government today announced it has canceled a $7 billion contract with Lockheed Martin, issued only eighteen months ago, to build geosynchronous communications satellites for its military.
The project — known as JP9102 — was expected to include locally controlled and operated geostationary communications satellites, as well as multiple ground stations, but on Monday the Department of Defence confirmed it no longer met “strategic priorities”.
“With the acceleration in space technologies and evolving threats in space since the project’s commencement, defence has assessed that a single orbit GEO-based satellite communications system would not meet strategic priorities,” the statement read. “As such, defence has decided to cease its current procurement activity with Lockheed Martin Australia for a single orbit GEO-based satellite communications system.”
The project had been initiated by the previous government. The new Labor government however appears less interested in defense spending, and has been cutting related government space projects aggressively.
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The Australian government today announced it has canceled a $7 billion contract with Lockheed Martin, issued only eighteen months ago, to build geosynchronous communications satellites for its military.
The project — known as JP9102 — was expected to include locally controlled and operated geostationary communications satellites, as well as multiple ground stations, but on Monday the Department of Defence confirmed it no longer met “strategic priorities”.
“With the acceleration in space technologies and evolving threats in space since the project’s commencement, defence has assessed that a single orbit GEO-based satellite communications system would not meet strategic priorities,” the statement read. “As such, defence has decided to cease its current procurement activity with Lockheed Martin Australia for a single orbit GEO-based satellite communications system.”
The project had been initiated by the previous government. The new Labor government however appears less interested in defense spending, and has been cutting related government space projects aggressively.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
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3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
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P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Phew! For a second, I worried that stupid, short-sighted decisions were only made north of the equator.
Probably a good decision even if – coming from a Labour government – also likely made for the wrong reasons. The era of gold-plated GEO milsats is rapidly going away in favor of far cheaper and more numerous LEO and/or MEO milsats. Whether Australian or U.S., $7 billion is a lot of money. Australia would be far better off spending that on almost anything else than what was originally proposed.
Likely correct decision for the wrong reason as Dick says.. Australia should get on board with StarShield. We are a US satrapy anyway.
Mike Borgelt,
No, you aren’t. You’re a self-harmed victim of too many recent bad choices made on your own. Your Left has already taken your guns and your freedom of speech while our Left is still merely trying to do the same here. Tomorrow’s election should determine, in large measure, how likely they are to succeed.